The main reason why planes don't fly over Antarctica is due to
The rough weather conditions and low visibility make it extremely difficult to fly and land a plane over the continent. It is technically possible to fly to Antarctica, but there are very few flights that take the risk of going there.
Planes travel along the shortest route in 3-dimensional space. This route is called a geodesic or great circle. While map projections distort these routes confusing passengers, the great circle path is the shortest path between two far locations. This is why pilots fly polar routes saving time and distance.
The reason is something called 'inertia. ' The Earth is rotating and always spins toward the east. Suppose you're about to take off in an airplane, in that same direction. Whether you realize it or not – as you sit on the runway – your plane is already moving at the same speed Earth spins.
The reason for this is that the earth revolves on its axis, forcing the middle to bulge out slightly. The curvature of the earth and its extra equatorial width mean that curving towards the poles is a shorter distance than flying in a straight line.
Since it can't match the Earth's rotational speed, a westward plane technically travels east — just like the entire planet beneath it. It just has engines that help it travel east a little more slowly than everything else, making it move west relative to the ground.
Most commercial airlines that travel between East Asia and the Americas avoid flying over the Pacific Ocean due to high costs and safety concerns, such as the risk of flying during stormy weather.
Singapore Airlines has held the record for world's longest flight since 2016. Their trip from Singapore to New York is more than 9,500 miles.
The reason for quicker flights while flying eastwards is jet streams. Put simply, these are fast-flowing, narrow air currents in the atmosphere found at high altitudes.
The Pacific Ocean is a massive body of water that will require an extremely large amount of fuel to fly across. Rather than flying directly across the Pacific Ocean, most commercial flights take curved routes because they are actually shorter than shooting straight across a distance.
Night flying restrictions or night-time curfews, including night flight bans, are any regulations or legislation imposed by a governing body to limit the ground-perceived exposure to aircraft noise pollution during the night hours, when the majority of residents are trying to sleep.
But, is there an exact temperature that makes it too cold for a commercial airplane to fly? “There is not a specific temperature,” says Tom Haines, Senior Vice President of Media, Communications & Outreach at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).
However, because of lessons learned from its history and the improvements in aircraft and engine reliability, crossing the oceans is deemed as safe as flying over land. With the rules of ETOPS flying in place, the crew of an aircraft will always know where their nearest diversion airfield is.
Due to harsh conditions, extreme weather and no permanent population on the continent there are no regular passenger flights to Antarctica.
The short answer is, no, it's not illegal to fly over Antarctica. But there are practical considerations that make it challenging for regular airlines to navigate across the land. In many parts of Antarctica, there's limited or no infrastructure, no landing strips, and obviously no refuelling stations for planes.
Emirates said it was the “world's first cross-polar green flight.” By that, Emirates meant that the aircraft, already known for having better fuel-efficiency than older long-range planes, was routed near the North Pole to save about 2,000 gallons of carbon-emitting fuel.
Everything on earth, not just the ground, but also the water (and even the atmosphere), is rotating in the same direction, Forbes reported. Since planes in the sky are being pulled eastward with the earth, it takes more time to go west. Think of it kind of like walking against the wind.
We can't use a time machine to travel hundreds of years into the past or future. That kind of time travel only happens in books and movies. But the math of time travel does affect the things we use every day.
The prevailing winds are from west to east for most locations in the United States. Therefore, it is more economical to fly to the east, taking advantage of the prevailing tail winds, for a cheaper and faster flight over a given distance.
Theoretically it is possible but even a supersonic jet would be hindered by factors such as speed restrictions and in-flight refuelling. Yes – but only in theory. The Earth is roughly 40,000km in circumference at the equator, and completes one rotation every 24 hours.
The shortest flight in the world is a long-established air route between two of the Orkney Islands (Westray and Papa Westray) in Scotland. The distance is a mere 1.7 miles and with favorable winds, the actual flight often lasts less than a minute!
Aviation regulators set the total hours pilots fly and how much sleep they must get between flights. During ultra-long-haul flights, pilots sleep in special cabins, which passengers can't access.
Plenty of airlines offer Wi-Fi on flights, but not all service is created equal. Thanks to advancements in technology, we're seeing better speeds — but plenty of aircraft still rely on outdated equipment, so you'll be waiting a while for that Facebook feed to load.
The primary reason airplanes don't fly over the Pacific Ocean is because curved routes are shorter than straight routes. Flat maps are somewhat confusing because the Earth itself isn't flat.
The top reasons people from Europe and the USA don't come to Japan is that it's both too far and too expensive. Since the island is pretty much tethered where it is, there's not much that can be done about the former, but surely there could be some workarounds regarding the latter.